[pont3]

I've been watching the Mecum auctions for over twenty years, and I am just tired of the condescending attitude toward automatic transmissions and how superior the almighty manual is. In my opinion, those archaic manual transmissions were replaced by automatic for a reason.

So, I know many of you here wouldn't settle for anything less than a four-speed, and that's fine since that is what YOU love. You claim that it gives you more connection with the car, (I personally differ on that claim), but to disparage the automatic to the degree that the commentators at the Mecum auctions does is outrageous. I personally believe that they use this platform to drive up prices of manual equipped cars that they personally own'

We are all different in certain respects and to imply that those of us who PREFER automatics are somehow LESS car enthusiasts just rubs me the wrong way.

I learned to drive in my fathers '52 Ford truck back in 1968. Then, in 1974 my dad bought me a 1964 Ford Falcon that my uncle in New York had converted to a '71 Ford 302 and a four-speed. I learned on my own how to change clutches

The next year, I passed the test, at age 16, to drive a school bus with a manual transmission. In 1976, I bought my first GTO, a 1972 with 80k miles, and it was AUTOMATIC. I GAVE the Falcon to my cousin because I was done with it.

I drove that car to Ft Riley, Kansas and traded it in (big mistake), for a 1974 Monte Carlo because it had swivel bucket seats. From that I moved on to a '76 Charger Daytona, (the worse car I have ever owned), and quickly moved on to a '77 Grand Prix SJ, (my favorite car of all time), then in 1980, I ORDERED my very first brand new car, a 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais. Kept that for three years then traded for a 1983 Grand Prix, two years later traded the GP for '85 Cougar, then traded 85 cougar for '89 Cougar supercharged V6, and had option for a/t or m/t. Chose a/t/. Many other cars in the interim but fast forward to 2004 when I bought my still owned GTO. I chose automatic. Then, among all the M6 hype I ADDED a M6 2005 GTO to my collection and simply found that manual transmission was just not for me and traded it a year later for the A4 2006. All this so called control and connection to the car is just nonsense for me and the automatic transmission was created for a reason.